


The Linnet Born Within the Cage

by NoPerson



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Blood, M/M, Major Character Injury, Season/Series 03, Season/Series 03 Spoilers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-09
Updated: 2017-08-09
Packaged: 2018-12-13 05:29:52
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,689
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11753037
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/NoPerson/pseuds/NoPerson
Summary: Even in a horrible situation, it's Keith's turn to comfort Lance.





	The Linnet Born Within the Cage

**Author's Note:**

> I live! I can't believe I actually finished something! It's been such a stressful year I'm so amazed I actually wrote this. I have something else super long in the works and it's a pain but I believe in myself! In the meantime, enjoy!

For their newest mission, Keith pairs him and Lance together and puts Allura, Pidge, and Hunk in a separate trio. A few months ago, Lance might have been scandalized by this choice but he can now surprisingly see its merits. Despite their past disagreements, he and Keith now get along better than he ever imagined they would. 

The two designated teams fly their lions down to opposite ends of the Galra base with Pidge’s team on a mission to find and retrieve data while Keith and Lance are to prevent any extra sentries from reaching them. Once Keith and Lance make it inside, they plant themselves near the center of the base and take down any robot that comes near them. Every now and then, Keith asks the three others for updates on their progress and Lance gets to experience the strange sensation of hearing Keith speak next to him and hearing the same words echoed in his helmet. A part of him regrets being on the floor with Keith when he could be picking off various guards from above but there had been no time for him to try and find a high location and they’re too deep in the battle for him to leave Keith alone for even a few seconds. Sentry after sentry is coming after them from all directions and Lance hopes that the others can wrap their end up soon so they can get out before anything can go wrong. 

“I’m about halfway finished.” Pidge informs them over the coms. “It’s not working as quickly as usual because I don’t have any real Galra tech to use as an interface, but it’s still transferring.”

“Keep it up, Pidge,” Keith practically growls. He rips his bayard out of one sentry’s chest and quickly swings it around to swipe the head off of another. 

Lance shoots down a sentry that had been advancing from Keith’s blind side before turning and shooting two that were coming for him. “Can you hurry it up, please? These things won’t stop coming!”

“Hunk and I are having similar problems.” Allura adds, even her often calm voice marred by exhaustion. 

Lance huffs out a sigh of irritation and returns his focus to his and Keith’s battle. It’s frustrating that they have nothing else to do except fight until Pidge is finished but this mission was supposed to be extremely simple in the first place. Instead of mourning their small roles, Lance chides himself for his boredom and reminds himself that such an easy mission is a blessing for them, especially considering how much strain Lotor’s plans have put on their frayed team. Something this simple should be refreshing. They only need some information and once they get that they can leave without worrying about anything else. Lance likes to think this uncomplicated mission has to do with his urging to give the team a break. The past few weeks had been extremely stressful for everyone and if Keith was so insistent that they keep pushing forward, they could at least complete a mission that wasn’t as demanding as others. Surprisingly, Keith had relented easily at Lance’s reasoning, leaving a pleasing sense of accomplishment that still dwelled in his chest. 

“I don’t know about you guys, but do these Galra seem endless?” Hunk asks suddenly, voice tinged in confusion and concern.

“Yeah, I hear you.” Lance answers as he shoots down three more that come through the door. “Why are there so many protecting such a small outpost?”

“Pidge said this information contained vital details about this sector, including all of the shipping schedules and personnel.” Keith grits his teeth. “They have to be here to protect that.”

Lance bites his lip but continues to shoot. Even if this data is well worth their time, it doesn’t get rid of the irritation he feels at shooting for what seems like hours without any sign of the end. Despite the monotonous nature of shooting so much that his finger on the trigger is starting to tire, he doesn’t let his guard down and he doesn’t let his bayard slip from his shoulder. He’s well aware that he has no time in battle to mourn his position when he needs to maintain his focus. 

While he’s pinpointing sentries headed his way to get rid of, he’s also keeping an eye on Keith and the various droids he’s annihilating. Lance knows that Keith can hold his own in battle, but that doesn’t stop him from watching his back in case anything else happens. 

“Sixty percent.” Pidge grumbles and Lance winces at how little the number has changed.

At the doorway to the wide hall he and Keith are fighting in, something changes. Less automated sentries pour out of the door but two large Galra guards come lumbering towards them, each wielding their own wickedly sharp blade.

Keith cuts down one of the remaining sentries with an irritated huff. “Great.” 

Without any warning, the two guards start sprinting toward them. The first one moves swiftly to Keith who barely manages to defensively lift his own blade in time. Lance shoots precise rounds at his guard who jumps from side to side and swings his sword at Lance’s weapon. He and Lance engage in a dance of sorts, where they dodge each other’s attacks until Lance begins to tire out. While observing his opponents next move, Lance peeks briefly over his shoulder to see how Keith is doing. The current Black Paladin is holding his own in his own battle, scoring multiple hits on the Galra guard and carefully ducking out of the way of the blade, but it’s still obvious that he too is tiring and if this doesn’t end this soon, he’s going to make a mistake.

With a new determination in his gut, Lance doubles the number of his shots and manages to him the Galra in the leg, sending him careening to the floor as Lance finishes the fight with a shot to the chest. Immediately, he recovers and shoots at the Galra fighting Keith, sending him snarling backwards. Keith spares him a brief smile before leaping forward and taking advantage of his opponent’s shock, slicing quickly across his and sending him flying in a heap to the floor. 

Lance wants to take a moment to be relieved when a shadow moves in from the corridor to Keith’s left side. He’s on alert again, raising his bayard up to his shoulder in preparation for what’s to come. 

“Keith,” He starts to say, trying to warn him but it’s too late. 

Lance thinks about choices a lot. 

He ponders various decisions in his life, either ones he’s made or others have made that affect him. He wonders about the different outcomes that could have occurred if different choices were made. He wonders what would have happened if he never snuck out with Hunk and found Pidge on the roof of the Garrison, if he had gotten along with Keith instead of becoming his self-declared ultimate rival. His life is made up of so many different choices that it’s hard to decide which ones actually affect him and which ones are just meaningless details lost to time.

 

Lance wonders if it was his fault for speaking so slowly, for not getting his warning out quicker. He wonders if that really counts of a choice if he wasn’t aware of the consequences. But, that makes him wonder if there can really be such a thing as choice if often the consequences are unknown.

Before Lance can finish warning Keith about the shadow, he has already gained Keith’s attention and pulled his focus away for the split second the third Galra guard needs to raise his blade and slice it across the left side of Keith’s neck. 

For the briefest of moments, Lance can’t move. It’s as if time had slowed down specifically to show him what happens when he’s not fast enough, the consequence of his inaction. Keith’s eyes are wide under his visor, shock registering in those violet depths before pain has the opportunity to kick in. His bayard disintegrates from his left hand, his fingers useless and Lance only watches in mute horror as blood immediately erupts from the deep wound on Keith’s neck, a spray of it sent careening by the moving blade until little droplets of red splatter the front of Lance’s armor and speckle his helmet with miniscule dots. Instinctively, Keith’s now empty left hand reaches up to reach for the wound and Lance is nothing but a mere bystander as he witnesses Keith collapse to the floor. 

This time, Lance doesn’t give the guard any time to engage in some kind of sick dance. Lance aims smoothly for his head and feels nothing but fear inside him as the final guard crumples to the floor. A few feet away from the guard, Keith is sprawled on the floor his left hand clutching his neck as the blood spreads and his breath wheezes. 

Lance swiftly kneels beside him, gulping down tears that would do nothing but blur his vision as his hands hover hesitantly over Keith’s body. “Keith,” He whispers hoarsely. “Are you with me, buddy?”

He ignores the concerned exclamations that erupt over the coms as Keith’s half-closed eyes sluggishly move to meet his. His hand is already drenched in red and Lance hates how pale his face is becoming. In his mind, he starts scrolling through every bit of first aid knowledge he has for anything that might tell him what to do. 

“Keith,” He chokes out. “I know you won’t like this, but you gotta show me so I can figure out what to do.”

If Keith were in any other position, he would have glared and shaken his head firmly. But this Keith clearly doesn’t have the energy to do anything but flick his eyes at the wound and noticeably loosen his grip on his neck. Lance takes this as good as an invitation as he’s going to get and he moves his shaking hands to Keith’s and carefully pries his sticky fingers away from the wound. It looks bad, really bad, and blood is still pulsing out with every heartbeat. The site is so red that Lance can’t see how deep it goes but if the wheeze in Keith’s breath is anything to go by, it may have damaged his trachea. Taking a calming breath, Lance pushes Keith’s hand tightly back on the wound.

“Hold that, okay?” Lance says as firmly as he can even with his voice trembling. “Don’t let go until I find something to put on that.” For good measure, Lance keeps his own hand over Keith’s to make sure it won’t slip off. 

“Lance? What’s going on?” Allura’s voice brings him back to reality and he remembers that the others have no idea what’s happening. 

“Keith’s hurt,” He manages to get out. “I don’t know how long he’s going to make it if we can’t get back to the castle soon.”

“I still have about thirty-five percent left before the download is complete,” Pidge says, but Lance can tell from the waver in her voice that she’s uncertain about sticking to getting the information. 

A tug on his free hand pulls his attention back to Keith. His right hand grasps Lance’s with more strength than he should have and he glares at Keith with his tired eyes, trying to get a message across without having to speak. Lance swallows once he gets the silent memo.

“Keith wants you to finish the mission,” He relays firmly. “I think I can drag him to a safe place for a little but there are still some sentries coming in that I won’t be able to fight off with him. Can one of you get over here and cover me?”

“We’re in a tight spot right now,” Hunk says and Lance can hear the tears and regret in his best friend’s voice. “But as soon as there’s an opening I promise I’ll come to you.”

“Thanks,” Lance sighs. “Until then, I’m gonna find a hiding spot for us.”

He looks down at Keith’s weak body and decides that he won’t be strong enough to lift him up entirely. “Sorry, buddy, this is gonna hurt but you need to keep the pressure on.”

He removes his hand from Keith’s and moves to stand behind him. He puts his hands underneath Keith’s arms and starts to drag him backwards into a different corridor, ignoring the way Keith’s blood smears along the floor. Keith lets out a wheezing groan of pain but keeps his hand pressed to his neck, a small mercy Lance is grateful for. The first doorway they come upon opens to a room devoid of any Galra but containing some kind of conference room with long table covered in a purple tablecloth. As soon as he has Keith propped up in a corner he tears off a good chunk of the tablecloth and sits down in front of Keith. He does his best to lay out an extra chunk of torn cloth that he folds into a bulky square so he can use that as extra padding against the wound. Lance takes in a shaky breath, breathes it out then lifts his hands back up to Keith’s neck.

“Hey man,” He says harshly when he notices that Keith’s eyes are closed. They snap back open immediately and he gives him a reassuring smile. “I’m gonna bandage your neck so you can put your hand down once I take it off. It’s probably gonna hurt a lot, but I need you to stay with me, okay?”

He doesn’t expect Keith to give him a verbal response but Keith doesn’t seem to get the idea. He opens his mouth and takes in a deep breath so he can speak, but the air rattles horribly in his throat and rather than speak he coughs wetly. Red dots once again splatter across Lance’s viso and he wants to cry when tiny rivers of red spill over Keith’s chin and paint his mouth red. He looks miserably up at Lance so Lance cups his cheek and gives him a teary smile. 

“Please don’t try to talk, you’re only going to make it worse by being stubborn.” Thankfully, Keith has the sense not to respond. 

Once again steeling himself, Lance breathes deeply and pulls Keith’s hand away from his neck. Blood starts to pour into his own palm but he staunches it with the folded cloth and quickly uses the longer strip to wrap tightly around Keith’s neck, securing the makeshift bandage in place. It’s extremely temporary and Lance can already see some blood seeping through but it will have to do until Lance can get him some real help. 

Until Hunk can get to them, Lance can only keep a close eye on Keith’s condition and pray he doesn’t deteriorate. He slumps into a seated position on Keith’s right side. Keith eyes him but doesn’t turn his head. 

“Is there anything I can do for you?” Lance asks before remembering that Keith can’t verbally reply. “Blink once for no and twice for yes.”

Keith blinks once. Lance sighs and takes Keith’s right hand, squeezing as some kind of anchor. To his surprise, Keith squeezes back. The small gesture brings more tears to Lance’s eyes and he tries to scrub them away with his free hand.

“I’m sorry,” He manages to spit out. “This is all my fault. I should’ve shot instead of trying to get your attention. And now I can’t even help you.”

Keith squeezes his hand tightly again. His mouth is gaping open, moving and trying to form words that he can’t say. Every breath rattles and wheezes so Lance shushes him and hopes he won’t try to speak. Then, without warning, Keith furrows his brows and shakes his hand out of Lance’s grip. A harsh wave of rejection stings Lance a he curiously watches Keith’s sluggish and jerky movements. Then, to his absolute horror, Keith raises both hands to his neck. With he left he slightly lifts up the bandage and with the other he slides two fingers against the wound. Keith clenches his eyes shut and a horrible groan bursts in bloody bubbles from his mouth. 

“What are you doing?” Lance cries out, moving forward to force Keith’s hands away from his neck if he has to. First he tries to apologize and now Keith is making things worse? “You’re going to hurt yourself!”

Lance grips his wrists and pulls his hands away but Keith shakes him off half-heartedly and lets his limbs fall limply to his sides. Still, the bloody fingers on his right hand twitch against the floor and Lance stares until comprehension dawns and he realizes that Keith is trying to write. It’s extremely uncoordinated but the effort is still there and he manages to get two letters out before his body shudders and his hand stops moving. But two letters is enough.

Ok.

Lance blinks at the simple word and gets what Keith’s trying to tell him. It’s okay. Even unable to speak, he thought it important enough to use his own blood to tell Lance that everything is okay. It may be just the smallest of words, but to Lance it’s everything. Those two letters have endless meanings. He’s telling Keith that everything’s okay, that he’ll be okay, that they’ll both be okay. But he’s also responding to Lance’s apologies and concerns. He’s both forgiving Lance and telling him that no apology is necessary. 

“Huh,” Lance laughs as much as he can in this situation. “You have a way with words.”

Keith gurgles out something that could pass as laughter and his head swings loosely to the side, bumping lightly against Lance’s shoulder.

Lance frowns at the movement and feels concern chew at his insides. “Hey, hang in there. This’ll all be over soon and then we can laugh over how bad your handwriting is.” Keith twitches in response but he makes no move to sit up straight again. 

“Eighty percent.” Pidge mutters, mostly to herself than anyone else. 

“Okay, guys,” Hunks starts to say, clearly out of breath. “There’s less of them now, I’m heading over.”

“Hunk, please hurry.” Lance stares down at Keith’s head and shifts so he can lean him back into a sitting position. His face is pale and sweaty and his eyes are barely open, the lids trembling and sporadically opening and closing. “He’s not looking too good.”

Lance puts his hands on either side of Keith’s head and feels his heart drop as Keith barely manages to look up at him. “Hey, stay with me. You’re doing great. Hunk will be here soon then we can get out of here and everything with be okay. You just have to stay awake.”

Keith’s eyes are tired and dim and Lance hates seeing that defeated look on him. It doesn’t suit him. He always has a fiery determination that Lance is used to and seeing that change is disturbing. 

Keith lifts a shaky hand to place comfortingly on Lance’s helmet and he leaves a streak of blood as he smiles slightly and lets his fingers trail down until they fall into his lap. Then, Lance’s heart nearly stops when his eyes roll back and he slumps completely against him. 

But no, Lance won’t let this happen. He rises and he grabs Keith like he did before and drags him into the corridor, hoping to catch Hunk as he moves forward. 

He tries to ignore the droplets of blood that trail behind them. 

. . .

Lance stays in front of the cryopod the entire Keith is in it. At first, he sits with nothing to do except pick at the fraying edges of his jacket and stare at Keith’s cold, pale face. Eventually, Coran joins him with both his and Keith’s disturbingly red armor and teaches Lance how to clean off the blood until it’s as if it was never there. While they work, Coran distracts him with stories about Altea and all of armor he had to clean in his day. It’s refreshing to listen to Coran’s chipper voice while wiping away the slate of Lance’s misery. It serves Coran’s dual purposes as it gets some work done and keeps Lance’s mind off of the way Keith’s limp head had flopped when Hunk caught up with them and carried Keith as fast as he could.

The other paladins come visit, too, both for Lance and for Keith. He knows that Pidge feels horribly guilty about taking so long so she sits on the floor next to Lance for a while with her laptop in front of her while she analyzes the intelligence they collected and alternates between looking at Keith and her screen. Hunk sits with him for a while and reads an Altean romance novel outloud. Allura sits next to him silently, her gaze never straying from Keith’s still face and Lance wonders if she fears losing her newfound family just as she had lost her home.

All of them take turns bringing food and water to Lance. He eats as much as he can.

After two long days that feel like eternity, the pod hisses open and Lance rises quickly, waiting with welcoming arms as Keith stumbles out shakily and blinks rapidly. Lance hates that there’s now a faint, long scar along the left side of his neck that will forever remind him of this. 

Lance wraps him up in the warmest hug he can possibly manage, feeling as Keith first stiffens then sighs and relaxes. Lance nearly flinches in surprise when he feels Keith’s own arms reciprocate and wrap around his back. Lance nuzzles into Keith’s shoulder and relishes in how his warm heartbeat pulses beneath his repaired skin. 

“I’m so sorry,” Lance says, his voice muffled by Keith’s shoulder. “I’m so glad you’re okay.”

“You have nothing to be sorry for,” Keith says firmly. “And I’m glad you’re okay, too.” 

Lance thinks back to Keith’s bloody handwriting and reminisces on his fulfilled promise.

Yeah, they’re okay.

**Author's Note:**

> The title is from that one loved and lost poem that I'm too tired to look up the name of right now.


End file.
